Wanderlust
by one or the other
Summary: Every journey has to start somewhere.


**x**; KH © Square-Enix & Disney.

**WANDERLUST : **TSULREDNAW

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"_Change your thoughts and you change your world."_

— _Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993) —_

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There was a time that they wondered what the future would hold for them. They were still quite young at the time when they asked each other about it, so they weren't sure on how to answer the question: '_What do you think is going to happen when we grow up?_' They probably couldn't have fathomed what it would bring them. So they continued being the children they were, without a worry in the world. He still thought about it every now and then, being a curious child as any other child would be, as he would look at the stars from the window of his room, wondering about what Riku said about how it seemed _boring_ in class the other day when they went to their 'Secret Place' to play.

They would spend their free time in that cave with chalk or rock in hand; carving, doodling, and making their imagination visible on these walls. They found this place when he and Riku were playing around the island, looking for some kind of _adventure_. During their search, they found this _cave_, near the waterfalls, with stems and trunks of the palm trees growing out of the soiled ground, between blank rocky walls and out of the opening of the ceiling. They never gave much thought to that _mysterious door_ that was there. They were just excited to find something _new_ and it became their own _little world_. Just the two of them.

But something had changed.

Gazing upon the shores of their little island, the stars twinkled in the sky and then one by one, they fell across the sky. He thought it looked pretty, but because Riku had told him it was such a girly word, he thought it was cool instead. Even more surprising to his first experience of seeing a _meteor shower_, he stumbled across what he thought was a _body_ near the _shores_ of the beach. Holding his little wooden sword in a firm grip, he approached with curious eyes and trembling feet, wondering if it was a monster; a sea monster that he'd heard about from one of his mother's bed time stories he used to listen to, but as he came closer, he discovered a _girl_ with _red hair_ wearing a simple _white dress _that had become damp from the ocean waves, unconscious, on the sand.

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_W**h**o **a**re yo**u** . . . ?_

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From that day on, something seemed to have changed in his world; their world. Though he didn't notice it at first thought, after the encounter, something had happened that seemed _surreal_. But he was only _eight years old_. He didn't know _anything_ then. He didn't exactly _understand_ it. But something had _happened_ when he and Riku met that one red-haired girl named _Kairi_.

The next six years after that came and went as time tended to do so often. And he found himself _thinking_ about what he could've been doing for the day and heard his mind's voice telling him: '_it's just the same old thing, over and over again_'. But he dismissed the feeling of wanting something _more_ to do because he had _somewhere_ to be, even though he was supposed to be cleaning his room that afternoon. After leaving the house cautiously, fearing his mother would be right there at the entrance to ask him that taunting question, '_where do you think you're going, young man?'_, he readied himself and rowed his little boat across the shallow waters to arrive at the separate island's dock.

Tying the boat with a rope to the thick wooden pillars under the planks, he was greeted by Selphie, whom was playing with her jump rope nearby and came to him with a '_hey Sora!_' and began to talk about _paopu fruits_, in which caused him to stutter an excuse to get away from her sayings about '_how _romantic_ it is to have your _destiny intertwined_ with the one you _love'. He always thought she gets too carried away with those silly thoughts about the _paopu legend_. It was just a fruit that grew off that slanted palm tree that he, Riku and Kairi would sit on, to watch the sun set before going home on their little boats and back to their cozy homes.

He ran into Wakka when he passed by him playing Blitzball, who stopped him to tell him about how he had planned with Tidus to explore that little opening near the waterfall and how he should come with them. The said blonde was practicing his sword skills nearby, and as he passed, he was stopped to be asked by the boy to team up with him and Wakka next time they were to spar with Riku. The brunette looked at him questioningly, shaking his head hopelessly with a '_sure, whatever_', before he had returned to the direction of his destination. He was supposed to meet Kairi and Riku that day because the silver-haired boy seemed to have '_something important_' to tell the both them. Noticing the boy's recent behaviors, he wondered what it was about. He was thinking something bad had happened; like his grandfather getting sick again and he would have to stay home to take care of him after school.

When he finally arrived, he found _her_ already there, waiting, and sitting on the sand, looking out to the ocean with a faint smile upon her lips. He wondered what she was thinking about as he slowly approached her from behind, his yellow shoes digging into the sand with each step, and halted next to her with a '_hey_'. It wasn't long before Riku had finally reached them after sprinting from the docks and had a mischievous glint in his eyes with a grin plastered on his face.

Before Kairi even had the chance to turn her head to greet them properly, the brunette crossed his arms with his head tilted slightly and looked at him, opening his mouth to speak. "_So, what's the '_big emergency_' you wanted to call us out for?_" he had asked. "_I still have chores to finish or else mom will lecture me about _responsibilit_y when she gets home_."

Riku waved his back hand at him nonchalantly and then straightened himself. "_It won't take long, really_," he told them. He cleared his throat. "_I've been thinking recently and…_." He looked at the both of them with his cyan eyes.

"_About what?_" Kairi asked curiously, facing the both of them with her full attention.

"_Well…_." He paused, placing a gloved hand over his chin. They both looked at him, waiting. He then crossed his arms with a determined look.

"_. . . I thought, maybe, we could build a raft . . . ."_

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**x**; For _xsynthetic-smile's_ challenge.


End file.
